Video processing heading for the cloud

Mobile operators are being offered cloud-based, high density and high efficiency video and media processing capability through a partnership formed by platform provider Kontron and video specialists Vantrix and Vanguard Video.

The SymCloud Media platform features Intel Core i7 processors, enabling processing of H.265/HEVC encoding simultaneously with transcoding from Vantrix using the graphic engine.

Kontron’s Sven Freudenfeld said deploying video processing in the cloud, using OpenStack cloud management techniques, would be a more optimised use of resources for operators that are facing increasingly high media handling demands. Devices with high screen (1080p) resolutions and support for top end codecs such as HEVC will be increasingly common, he added. Added to that, integrated WiFi coverage will mean devices will be be able to support high codecs over WiFi, as well as LTE connections.

The platform will offer up to 144 live transcoded 1080p videos per 2RU using only 750 Watts, or 5.2 Watts per channel, he said.

“The key items in the SymKloud Media platform are, first, its high efficiency video codec support – so by using the graphic engine we are not touching the CPU. The second portion is its deployment of OpenStack cloud management, allowing the platform to be more optimised and also to scale up and down efficiently. And the third portion is higher channel density with Intel Haswell, where we can achieve both great scale and higher channel density within a 2u platform,” Freudenfeld said.

“To date the intricacies of HEVC have required much more processor power than H.264,” said Irena Terterov, Vanguard Video CEO. “However, the harnessing of 4th generation Intel Core technology and Kontron system expertise has shown us the tremendous cost versus performance potential to make HEVC in cloud infrastructure very viable. Clients will possess improved cost controls and power efficiencies, even when faced with wildly fluctuating traffic volumes that require on-demand resources.”

“While HEVC is in an early evolution phase, it will quickly become the de facto codec as the Ultra HD era catches on, driven by both the production and consumer side of the business,” said Jean Mayrand, Vantrix CTO. “We are just scratching the surface of what can be accomplished with cloud-based video delivery, media processing, etc. and are working on how to better support providers to provision all of this in today’s cloud infrastructure for the best overall channel performance per watt.”